In recent years, along with the starting of the Internet distribution of digitized contents of pictures and music based on the readily available multimedia, there has been an increasing trend of users' showing high interest in utilizing the contents. In order to meet the users' needs, means and methods for controlling the contents utilization with high flexibility have been in high demand.
Conventionally, contents of pictures and music (copyright) have not been able to be sold or transferred for making profit without the approval from the copyright owners. The contents in this case refers to the digital contents having a structure as a collection of bit strings that can be recorded onto a single recording medium. They include sentence texts, still images, dynamic images, program software, etc.
The contents of this type are provided to users from the download sites on the Internet or by a recording medium. In providing and utilizing the contents, a control for the utilization of contents (hereinafter to be referred to as a contents utilization control) is carried out using a license (utilization approval information) aiming at the protection of the copyright. This contents utilization control is for enabling only the legally approved users to utilize the contents.
Further, a contents utilization control apparatus that controls the utilization of the contents is set with an own environment for the utilization of the license and the contents. In this environment of utilization, the contents utilization control apparatus is set with apparatus identification to identify the contents utilization control apparatus. Therefore, the contents utilization control apparatus controls the utilization of the contents by decoding the contents based on the apparatus identification information and the license. For utilizing the charged contents, the users are charged. Conventionally, the providers of the contents have managed this charging.
As explained above, the conventional contents utilization control apparatus provides contents and license that have been prepared to meet the environment of the apparatus that utilizes the contents. As the contents and license largely depend on the environment of the contents utilization control apparatus that utilizes the contents utilization control apparatus, users cannot carry out a flexible utilization of the contents. Further, as the contents and license must be prepared individually, the providers of the contents have also had to bear a heavy burden.
Furthermore, as the license cannot have charge information, the contents providers have had to manage the charging for the contents utilization. This charge management has also been a very troublesome work.